Delaware’s premier amateur event, the 74th Delaware Amateur Championship, will head to Plantation Lakes Golf & Country Club for the first time June 23-25.
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The Millsboro, Del. venue hosted the Delaware Super-Senior Championship in 2024. Tom Humphrey of Wilmington Country Club took the title.
Founded in 2015, Plantation Lakes, an Arthur Hills design, featured nine holes in 2013. It finished its 18-hole layout in 2020.
“Plantation Lakes isn’t a terribly long golf course, but is protected by tall fescue grass and there is water or penalty areas on basically every hole,” Ian Madinger, Plantation Lakes’ Director of Golf, said. “To play well here, players will have to keep the ball in play and have good speed on the greens.”
In last year’s Delaware Amateur at White Clay Creek Country Club, Chesapeake Bay Golf Club’s Evan Barbin rallied from a four-shot final-nine deficit to claim his first amateur victory.
“It meant the world to win last year,” Barbin, 21, of Elkton, Md., said. “That was one of the best weeks of golf I had ever played. Winning gave me a lot of confidence. When I am not feeling my best, I can always look back at the Delaware Amateur and tell myself I have won a state amateur and know I have what it takes.”
Barbin is coming off a disappointing spring season at Liberty University. He played in six events and had a 75.11 scoring average. He also most recently missed the cut at the 125th BMW Philadelphia Amateur by a shot.
“The game feels good,” Barbin, a rising senior at Liberty, said. “I didn’t have the greatest of spring seasons. I am hitting it great but I didn’t score as well as I would have hoped. I played well in the Philadelphia Amateur but one bad hole at Radley Run Country Club took me out of match play. I am going to keep working at it.”
Plantation Lakes will be unfamiliar for a majority of the field, including Barbin. A priority will be placed on getting familiar with the course and how to go low. The winning score the last two years has been 18 under (2023) and 13 under (2024), respectively, over the 72-hole marathon.
“I haven’t played Plantation Lakes,” Barbin said. “I am looking to go down there a day or two early and play a practice round. It all comes down to managing the golf course as well as you can. At the end of the day, you need to figure out what clubs give you the best chance to have scoring opportunities and keep you in play. Short game and putting are always important. I usually play conservatively off the tee in the first round to get comfortable.”
Barbin will look to become the ninth player to successfully defend his title. The others include: John Corzilius, Blaise Giroso, Christopher Hickman, Joey Maxon, Ed Richitelli, Ellis Taylor, Jay Whitby and Chris Wisler.
“I will work hard to stay in my own lane,” Barbin said. “If I can remain positive, confident and competitive, I feel like that will be an advantage. That is my strategy. I am looking forward to a great week.”
The winner of the Delaware Amateur, an official USGA Exemption event, receives an automatic bid into the U.S. Amateur Championship. The runner-up will be exempt into 2026 U.S. Amateur Final Qualifying.
Past champions in the field include: Barbin (2024) and Blake Micholas of Kings Creek Country Club (2023).
GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 345 Member Clubs and 130,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
